Beetroot Soup with Horseradish Yogurt

And January has started with full blast. I still have my day-time job at a magazine. Luise is almost fully recovered from her back injury but still spends a lot of time with rehab. And she has just started a new education to become a nutritional therapist. And in the midst of this we have also taken on a bunch of new food projects. All of a sudden, the mornings, weekends and evenings – which are supposed to be our time – have been filled with work, planning and studies. All these projects are very exciting (we will share the first soon) and some of them even puts money in the bank, so we are fulfilling many of our dreams here. But when you work so closely together with the one you love, the barrier between work and private time slowly vanishes. So I write this to remind myself, perhaps not to work less but to be more loving while working. These stressful times will pass, and we are planning to take a loooong trip somewhere when they do.

We have been cooking this soup from time to time this winter. It tastes really warm and nice with hints of mustard seeds and cumin and has a great texture from all the beetroot shreds. We are not sure how or if this differs from the Russian or Ukrainian Borscht/Borsch/Borsjt, but it is darn good. Especially with a fleck of horseradish flavored yogurt on top.

Lately, we have received a few emails from people wondering how to cook good and wholesome vegetarian food when on a budget. This recipe is a good example of that. It is simple, tasty and doesn’t cost much to make. In fact, most our soups and root recipes are great budget options.

Apart from that, try to buy fruit and vegetables that are in season (they tend to cost less then).

The least expensive plant based proteins come from dried beans, lentils and peas. All which are very affordable.

Seeds are generally less expensive than nuts, and can replace them in most of our recipes.

If buying nuts, make sure to buy big packs they are always good to have at home. Also, make your own nut milk instead of buying.

Heat ghee in a large saucepan on medium heat, add mustard and cumin seeds and stir constantly to prevent from burning. Fry until fragrant. Then add onion and fry until soft, stirring occasionally. Add the grated beetroot, vegetable broth and bay leafs. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer for 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the Horseradish Yogurt by combining both ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Add apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to the beetroot soup and let simmer for another minute or so. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve in bowls with a dollop of Horseradish Yogurt.

I’m Polish, and we make our barszcz ( beet soup) very similar to yours! The cumin sounds like it would be a nice twist, as would the horseradish yogurt – Eastern Europeans love their beets and horseradish!!

oh my what a vibrant beet soup! I like the little twist with the mustard & cumin seeds + horseradish yogurt. I’ll have to try it soon since beet is one of my favorite root vegetable. Thanks again for finding the time in your busy schedule to share your passion with us each week. Glad to hear you are both busy and doing what you love. I wish you & Luise will soon find the time for a little get-away to play and rejuvenate soon!

I have never thought of using beetroot as the main ingredient for a soup (I never had barszcz) but it looks amazing! I loved beetroot as a kid, because it colors everything on the plate red :)
Thanks for reminding me of that.

I’m Polish and my grandma cooked Ukrainian barszcz very often when I was a child. There are many versions of this soup (depending on country or even region) – my grandma’s contained white beans called Beautiful Johnny;)(something like butter beans), vegetables – cabbage, carrots, potatoes,onions.In traditional kitchen it was made with chicken stock and chicken meat bits. And sour cream was a must.Today I make my vegetarian version.
Yours soup looks very interesting – I like cumin and mustard seeds addition.

Nice touch with the mustard and kummin seeds – can’t wait to see what food experience this soup has in store for me! I can agree on that finding time to blog isn’t always the easiest. I myself have a three year old AND a 3 month baby. In addition to that I’m going to hold some cooking classes soon and study nutrition as a “distance course”. All fun stuff but I must admit that I’m a bit nackered in the evenings… Good luck with all of your projects!

1) These photographs are beyond stunning. Your blog is as pleasurable to look at as it is to read.
2) I love beetroot soup! I have never tried (or even heard of) horseradish yogurt, but I now am curious to try it.
3)I didn’t realize Luise had an injury–even though this is late and she’s almost fully recovered…get better Luise! And good luck with your continued physical therapy.

Beetroot would not rank among my top five vegetables but this borscht now ranks among my top five soups! It tastes amazing with the cumin, mustard seeds and horseradish and is so pretty to look at too. Thank you from me and my vegetarian son!

My parents are Polish so I have eaten a lot of Barszcz in my life. The recipes vary but your looks very similar to any Polish barszcz. Just the horseradish yogurt that is not very common, although they use horseradish (chrzan) very often i Polish cuisine.

Bring in the beets! Thanks for sharing this recipe. Been looking for beet soup recipe lately for this weekend family dinner. The vibrant color makes it look extra special. When using olive oil, does it only have to be cold pressed?

Phooouuuaaa! Your pictures are so stunning! I’m fallen in love with that absolutely beautiful printed kitchen towel. Is this self-made? I have to make a stamp of it and print my own. I’m so in Love! Greetings from Switzerland.

Yes, I second the love for the kitchen towel – so cheerful for the kitchen! I grew up eating borscht – and even though I hated beets I loved the soup! Now, I love beets in all forms, esp. raw and finely shredded. Will try the idea of making the soup with these thicker shreds – so delicious looking, thank you.

This was such a tasty soup! I’ve made it twice now, and see it becoming a staple in our household. I made one small change…given how messy it was to eat the first time I cooked it, I now cube the beets before shredding in a food processor. Still looks beautiful, but the shorter shreds make it much easier to eat without ending up with a crimson chin. :-) Thank you so much for your beautiful recipes and even more lovely photographs!
~e

Hi!the UKRAINIAN version contaiains SOME VEGETABLES: carrots, parsnips, celery, potatos finely chopped, and goes with sour cream;
there is also clear borscht, which is served on Christmas Eve: with dumplings filled with mushrooms and meat – delicious :) I also love version with sourcream, which is sweet, with potatos topped with carmelised onion :) LOVE YOUR BLOG/PICS/RECIPIES, greetings!